Embassy News 2007
Signing of Joint Scientific Endevour at Hellisheidi
Ambassador Carol van Voorst attended the launch of a joint U.S.-French-Icelandic project to pump carbon dioxide into basalt rock to store it permanently as a calcite crystal on September 29. She was joined by the President of Iceland, Environmental Minister and representatives of the project's partners, University of Columbia, University of Iceland, Toulouse University and Reykjavik Energy company.
The site of the sequestration is at Iceland's newest geothermal power station at Hellisheidi, which produces electricity and hot water for Reykjavik. The project entails dissolving carbon dioxide gas in water and injecting the fluid into an underground reservoir in the basalt. Scientists believe the solution will react and form calcite crystals, thereby trapping the carbon dioxide permanently. The project's partners hope that this project can be replicated in other parts of the world with similar basalt structure.